Southern Hemi 9 - Northern Hemi 1 !!!!!!!

Test (International) Rugby of course. The northern hemisphere toured the southern the last few weeks and only came away with one win.

The French (playing their only test in the south) bet the South Africans. The French always play well. This means that the UK got swept downunder so to speak so they will be in a bit of a foul mood.

Of course the All-Blacks won their three tests...one of them against Argentina with a totally different starting XV than what bet the Six Nations Champs Ireland twice. So here are the results......

Oz 34 - England 03
Oz 43 - England 18
Oz 37 - Ireland 15
SA 36 - Scotland 16
SA 29 - Scotland 15
FA 36 - SA 26 (ding)
AB 34 - Ireland 23
AB 27 - Ireland 17
AB 25 - AR 19
AR 27 - Wales 25
AR 45 - Wales 27

This is fun but it really means nothing on who will play well and win the World Cup next year. The All-Blacks are showing they can win Test rugby with two or three different starting XVs which is actually very impressive and showing they are building incredible depth and experience with their Test side.

Of course this is not sitting well with the Kiwi traditionalists who say that winning an AB test cap (meaning a spot on the ABs) has much less meaning and it is degrading the AB jersey and legacy. But it seems to be helping the ABs regain a bit of the dominance they had over the world before professionalism took over. Being a small country they need to build depth, which they have plenty of, and experience, which is hard to do on a small island.

The English (reigning World Champs) did come down to Oz with a much younger and inexperienced side than before. The Irish looked very good as did Argentina. Of course the Irish were not playing the top XV of the ABs but still the ABs had a strong Test side.

Next up is the Tri-Nations where NZ, Oz, and SA all play each other in their now annual tournament. This year is different though. They will be playing a different format than in the past. In the past they play each other twice...basically four tests per team. This year I think they are playing six tests per team or each other three times. It should be interesting and tiring. Here is the schedule: Tri-Nations Schedule and Standings

GO ALL-BLACKS !!!!!!!!!!!!!